Mandated inspections are required in a variety of different contexts. For example, to avoid accidents caused by defective equipment, Federal law presently requires that commercial drivers make a visual inspection of specific components on a commercial vehicle such as a truck (i.e., tractor and trailer), including components such as the brake system, fuel system, warning lights, tires, etc., performing pre- and post-trip inspections of these basic, but critical components. An exemplary vehicle inspection report, listing the components and systems that must be inspected by a driver to satisfy the DOT regulations, is illustrated in FIG. 7. However, under the current system, a driver is only required to fill out a paper log and keep it on file for 90 days. Many experts report that less than half of the drivers ever perform the check; instead, many drivers simply fill out the report while seated in the cab of the truck or in a coffee shop. The report is meaningless unless the listed components and systems have actually been inspected. For example, a driver who fails to actually inspect components on his vehicle will not notice that brake fluid is leaking from a hydraulic master brake cylinder. As a result, the brakes on the driver's truck may fail, potentially causing a serious accident.
Unfortunately, a signed inspection report does not provide any assurance that a driver actually inspected the components included on the report, because the individual tasked with performing the inspection could simply sit in a comfortable location, such as the cab of the vehicle, and complete the inspection report without actually physically being present at the locations requiring inspection. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a way to verify that the person tasked with performing an inspection actually was present at the location requiring inspection.
During the performance of such mandated inspections, many different types of data related to the inspection may be collected, such as data relating to the person performing the inspection and data relating to the item being inspected. It would be further desirable to provide a system and method to enable such data to be readily accessed over a computer network by individuals and applications requiring such data.